Josef Nesvadba's "Vampire Ltd." in the ISFDB

[Butch Malahide]

According to the ISFDB the title of this story is "Vampires Ltd.",
plural. However, in my copy of _Car Sinister_ (First Avon Printing,
July, 1979), it's "Vampire Ltd." (singular) throughout:
acknowledgments, contents, story heading, running head. Is the "-s"
just an ISFDB error, or is "Vampires Ltd." a variant title? The ISFDB
gives the original Czech title as "Upir ltd", is that correct? "Upir"
sounds like a singular to me, but I don't know a word of Czech. I
suppose the plural title is probably correct for Nesvadba's
*collection* _Vampires, Ltd._ because Wikipedia agrees with ISFDB on
that. Perhaps some ISFDB editor accidentally entered the title of the
collection for the title of the short story?

[Butch Malahide]

OK, I *do* know a word of Czech: "robot". Also the Czech word for
"steep" (or "precipitous") but that's about it.

[garabik-ne...@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk]

Butch Malahide <fred....@gmail.com> wrote:
> On May 3, 2:05 am, Butch Malahide <fred.gal...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> According to the ISFDB the title of this story is "Vampires Ltd.",
>> plural. However, in my copy of _Car Sinister_ (First Avon Printing,
>> July, 1979), it's "Vampire Ltd." (singular) throughout:
>> acknowledgments, contents, story heading, running head. Is the "-s"
>> just an ISFDB error, or is "Vampires Ltd." a variant title? The ISFDB
>> gives the original Czech title as "Upir ltd", is that correct? "Upir"

The short story is "Upír ltd". The movie was named "Upír z Feratu"

>> sounds like a singular to me

you are correct

>, but I don't know a word of Czech. I
>> suppose the plural title is probably correct for Nesvadba's
>> *collection* _Vampires, Ltd._ because Wikipedia agrees with ISFDB on

FWIW the original collection was called "Výprava opačným směrem" and it
probably contained other selection of stories

>> that. Perhaps some ISFDB editor accidentally entered the title of the
>> collection for the title of the short story?
>
> OK, I *do* know a word of Czech: "robot". Also the Czech word for
> "steep" (or "precipitous") but that's about it.

I am curious - what would that word be?

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-----------------------------------------------------------
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[Butch Malahide]

On May 3, 2:24 am, garabik-news-2005...@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk
wrote:

> Butch Malahide <fred.gal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On May 3, 2:05 am, Butch Malahide <fred.gal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> According to the ISFDB the title of this story is "Vampires Ltd.",
> >> plural. However, in my copy of _Car Sinister_ (First Avon Printing,
> >> July, 1979), it's "Vampire Ltd." (singular) throughout:
> >> acknowledgments, contents, story heading, running head. Is the "-s"
> >> just an ISFDB error, or is "Vampires Ltd." a variant title? The ISFDB
> >> gives the original Czech title as "Upir ltd", is that correct? "Upir"
>
> The short story is "Upír ltd". The movie was named "Upír z Feratu"
>
> >> sounds like a singular to me
>
> you are correct

Thanks!

> >, but I don't know a word of Czech. I
> >> suppose the plural title is probably correct for Nesvadba's
> >> *collection* _Vampires, Ltd._ because Wikipedia agrees with ISFDB on
>
> FWIW the original collection was called "Výprava opačným směrem" and it
> probably contained other selection of stories
>
> >> that. Perhaps some ISFDB editor accidentally entered the title of the
> >> collection for the title of the short story?
>
> > OK, I *do* know a word of Czech: "robot". Also the Czech word for
> > "steep" (or "precipitous") but that's about it.
>
> I am curious - what would that word be?

příkrý

[Brian M. Scott]

On Fri, 3 May 2013 00:36:27 -0700 (PDT), Butch Malahide
<fred....@gmail.com> wrote in
<news:c382f5ce-f407-402d...@z8g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>
in rec.arts.sf.written:

> On May 3, 2:24 am, garabik-news-2005...@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk
> wrote:

>> Butch Malahide <fred.gal...@gmail.com> wrote:

[...]

>>> OK, I *do* know a word of Czech: "robot". Also the Czech word for
>>> "steep" (or "precipitous") but that's about it.

>> I am curious - what would that word be?

> příkrý

You know it on account of the surname?

Brian

[Ahasuerus]

"Vampires Ltd." is indeed a variant title -- that's what it says in my
copy of _World's Best Science Fiction: 1965_ (http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-
bin/pl.cgi?50538). The ISFDB editor who verified _Car Sinister_ is
currently mostly inactive, so I will ask other editors to check their
copies. Thanks for letting us know!

[Butch Malahide]

On May 3, 10:35 am, "Brian M. Scott" <b.sc...@csuohio.edu> wrote:
> On Fri, 3 May 2013 00:36:27 -0700 (PDT), Butch Malahide

> <fred.gal...@gmail.com> wrote in

> <news:c382f5ce-f407-402d...@z8g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>
> in rec.arts.sf.written:
>
> > On May 3, 2:24 am, garabik-news-2005...@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk
> > wrote:
> >> Butch Malahide <fred.gal...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> >>> OK, I *do* know a word of Czech: "robot". Also the Czech word for
> >>> "steep" (or "precipitous") but that's about it.
> >> I am curious - what would that word be?
> > příkrý
>
> You know it on account of the surname?

Yep. (Actually, I only know it without the diacriticals; I had to get
those from Google Translate.) I know it because of the mathematician
Karel Prikry, and because of "precipitous ideals", which were given
that name (by Tom Jech) in honor of Karel. That makes "precipitous
ideal" an unusual sort of eponym. Any others like that?

[Brian M. Scott]

On Fri, 3 May 2013 11:23:53 -0700 (PDT), Butch Malahide
<fred....@gmail.com> wrote in
<news:9c8faec0-018a-4251...@v14g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>

in rec.arts.sf.written:

> On May 3, 10:35 am, "Brian M. Scott" <b.sc...@csuohio.edu> wrote:

>> On Fri, 3 May 2013 00:36:27 -0700 (PDT), Butch Malahide
>> <fred.gal...@gmail.com> wrote in
>> <news:c382f5ce-f407-402d...@z8g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>
>> in rec.arts.sf.written:

>>> On May 3, 2:24 am, garabik-news-2005...@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk
>>> wrote:

>>>> Butch Malahide <fred.gal...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> [...]

>>>>> OK, I *do* know a word of Czech: "robot". Also the Czech word for
>>>>> "steep" (or "precipitous") but that's about it.

>>>> I am curious - what would that word be?

>>> příkrý

>> You know it on account of the surname?

> Yep. (Actually, I only know it without the diacriticals; I
> had to get those from Google Translate.) I know it
> because of the mathematician Karel Prikry, and because of
> "precipitous ideals", which were given that name (by Tom
> Jech) in honor of Karel. That makes "precipitous ideal"
> an unusual sort of eponym. Any others like that?

I figured that you probably knew it from his name. I hadn't
known about precipitous ideals, though; I like that!

Not the same thing, but reminiscent: In finite combinatorics
a _desarrangement_ is a permutation whose first ascent
occurs in an even position; according to Miklós Bóna they
were named by Michelle Wachs to honor her co-author Jacques
Désarmenien.

Brian

[Butch Malahide]

On May 3, 2:24 am, garabik-news-2005...@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk
wrote:

> Butch Malahide <fred.gal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On May 3, 2:05 am, Butch Malahide <fred.gal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> According to the ISFDB the title of this story is "Vampires Ltd.",
> >> plural. However, in my copy of _Car Sinister_ (First Avon Printing,
> >> July, 1979), it's "Vampire Ltd." (singular) throughout:
> >> acknowledgments, contents, story heading, running head. Is the "-s"
> >> just an ISFDB error, or is "Vampires Ltd." a variant title? The ISFDB
> >> gives the original Czech title as "Upir ltd", is that correct? "Upir"
>
> The short story is "Upír ltd". The movie was named "Upír z Feratu"

Thanks. And what is the literal meaning of "Upír ltd"? Is it "Vampire
Inc." or is it "Vampire LTD" like "Ford LTD"?

[Robert Carnegie]

On Friday, 3 May 2013 08:05:41 UTC+1, Butch Malahide wrote:
> According to the ISFDB the title of this story is "Vampires Ltd.",
> plural. However, in my copy of _Car Sinister_ (First Avon Printing,
> July, 1979), it's "Vampire Ltd." (singular) throughout:
> acknowledgments, contents, story heading, running head. Is the "-s"
> just an ISFDB error, or is "Vampires Ltd." a variant title? The ISFDB
> gives the original Czech title as "Upir ltd", is that correct? "Upir"
> sounds like a singular to me, but I don't know a word of Czech.

Is it mostly English that has trick words like "sheep"?

Aesir seem to be plural... Wikipedia says the singular
is "ass", god. No one tell Thor. In fact, no one tell
Hawkeye.

Can a limited company be one person? Or is that not why
it's called "Vampire, Ltd."? Maybe he's a sleeping partner
(until sunset).

Has everyone tried spelling "Nesvadba" backwards?
It doesn't make anything - I just wondered if
you tried.

[Brian M. Scott]

On Fri, 3 May 2013 14:25:12 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie
<rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote in
<news:e57a9ce0-c84b-4b6f...@googlegroups.com>
in rec.arts.sf.written:

[...]

> Is it mostly English that has trick words like "sheep"?

Zero plurals? No. Old Norse has quite a few, for instance.

> Aesir seem to be plural... Wikipedia says the singular
> is "ass", god. No one tell Thor. In fact, no one tell
> Hawkeye.

The nominative plural is <�sir>; the nominative singular is
<�ss>.

[...]

Brian

[David DeLaney]

Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote:
>Is it mostly English that has trick words like "sheep"?
>
>Aesir seem to be plural... Wikipedia says the singular
>is "ass", god. No one tell Thor. In fact, no one tell Hawkeye.

...As far as I knew, that was "aes". Someone may be trolling the page?

>Has everyone tried spelling "Nesvadba" backwards?
>It doesn't make anything - I just wondered if you tried.

Well, NOW I have.

Dave, cross that off my purity test
--
\/David DeLaney posting from d...@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

[Butch Malahide]

I guess it must mean "Vampire Limited"; the car in the story is a
sports coupe, not much like an LTD.

[Butch Malahide]

On May 3, 4:25 pm, Robert Carnegie <rja.carne...@excite.com> wrote:
> Has everyone tried spelling "Nesvadba" backwards?
> It doesn't make anything - I just wondered if
> you tried.

If you rot13 it you get Arfinqon.

[Robert Carnegie]

Elf! I call elf!

...although making fun of a guy's name is lame, I admit. But still.

[Greg Goss]

Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote:

>Can a limited company be one person? Or is that not why
>it's called "Vampire, Ltd."? Maybe he's a sleeping partner
>(until sunset).

For two years, Perigee Consulting Ltd. (Alberta) was one person. I
never filed the books for it, so the government discorporated me ...
er it.
--
We are geeks. Resistance is voltage over current.